


Two Step

by drjamband



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2018-02-20 02:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2411765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drjamband/pseuds/drjamband
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim has an upsetting day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Step

Jim’s torso twisted painfully as someone knocked his shoulder.  “Arrogant prick,” the offender muttered as he stalked away.

Jim rubbed his shoulder as his brow crinkled.  Shaking his head, he continued on down the hall.  He spotted Naitha, who sat next to him in their Federation Policies and Procedures class.  “Hi, Naitha!” he greeted as he gave her a wave.

“Who was that?” another girl asked.

“Just Jim Kirk,” Naitha scoffed.

Jim frowned.  He’d thought he and Naitha were friends.  He hustled into Professor Gregory’s office and took a seat.

“Hello, Cadet Kirk.  I appreciate you meeting with me.”

“Of course, sir,” he answered.  Professor Gregory had sent him a message asking him to meet to discuss his paper.

“Admittedly this wasn’t what I expected.”

“Sir?”

“You are one of my best students, Kirk.  But your paper….Your thesis was naive, and most of your comments were beside the point.”

“Oh,” Jim answered dumbly.  

Professor Gregory went on to list everything wrong with the paper and what he should do to change it.  “I hope I haven’t hurt your feelings, Kirk,” he said, leaning across his desk the way people do when they’re about to break bad news.

Jim smiled.  “Of course not, sir.  I’ll get on this right away.”

“Good!  Glad to hear it!  Enjoy your day, Kirk.”

“You too, sir.”

Jim was convinced he had a collapsed lung.  It shouldn’t be this hard to breathe, should it?  He tried to take deep, even breaths as he practically staggered out of the building and towards his apartment.   _Just a few more minutes.  You can make it, Jim.  You **have** to **make it.**_

He keyed in his entry code and threw down his bag by the door.  He remembered what Bones had told him while they were living together: _You have to take care of yourself, Jim.  Sometimes you have to do what makes you feel good.  Your emotional health is just as important as your physical health._

Jim changed into a pair of track pants and a sweatshirt before queueing up one of his favorite shows from a few hundred years ago.  It was about a dysfunctional family in which the middle son had taken on all the responsibility, both in the family business and in their personal life.  Of course, take the rest of the family out of the equation and he was dysfunctional too.  It made Jim laugh, and he needed to laugh after the day he’d had.  He grabbed the knit blanket on the back of the couch and wrapped it tight around himself, settling in for a good old holo marathon.

A few hours later the door slid open.  The room had gone dark, the only light coming from the screen.

“ _Ashaya_?”  The room was much too hot for Jim to be so bundled up, Spock thought.  He only acted that way when he was upset.  “What has happened?”

Jim turned off the show and ordered the lights on.  “Hey.”

“Jim, are you upset?” Spock asked, moving to sit next to Jim on the couch.

Jim shrugged.  “Just a weird day,” he said, picking at the blanket’s edge.

Spock replicated them both some tea before sitting down again.  “Tell me, _talukh_.  What is wrong?”

“I don’t know.  Some guy bumped into me and then called me an arrogant prick, I think.  He was sort of mumbling.  And then today I saw Naitha.  You know, that Damanian girl in my class?  And I waved to her and she sort of just rolled her eyes at me.  And then you know how Professor Gregory asked me to come to his office?”  Spock gave a slight nod.  “Well he told me my thesis was naive and most of my comments were ‘beside the point.’  And then he leaned over and said, ‘I hope I haven’t hurt your feelings, Kirk.’  What the hell am I supposed to say to that?  Of course it hurt my feelings, he basically trashed my whole paper!  What if it’s not good?”

Spock pursed his lips and turned more fully towards Jim.  “Professor Gregory does not have much tact when it comes to dealing with students.  Or other professors, for that matter.  His word choice could have been...better.”  Jim snorted, then took a sip of his tea.  “May I see your paper?”

Jim nodded and handed over his PADD.  Spock took a few minutes to read the paper (he could read a 1,000-page book in a day, Jim swore) and then handed it back.  “It is true that your thesis is simple, Jim.  But you are a student.  Professor Gregory is in the top of his field, so it follows logically that he would think your choice of topic naive.  I think perhaps he does not remember what it was like to be a cadet.  I think it is a perfectly fine choice.  It shows curiosity, as well as a deeper understanding of the hidden implications of dilithium mining.”

Jim swallowed.  “What about my comments?”

“I did not see any of them as being too off-topic.  Perhaps you could go deeper in your examination of early dilithium mining, but this is by no means a final draft, correct?”  Jim nodded.  “Then do not feel so bad, my _ashayam_.  So far it is well done.”

“I doubt he ever criticized _you_ ,” Jim huffed.

“In fact he did.”

“What?”

“My first year at the academy he told me my papers lacked emotion, a sympathy for the plight of the people of other planets.  I argued that the class was not meant to increase my emotional intelligence, and that understanding the plight of others was a small piece of the whole that was the class.”

“Wow.  What did he say?”

“He nodded and told me to have a nice day.”

“That’s it?”

“He graded me accordingly.”

“So you got an A.”

“Yes, Jim, but my point is that Professor Gregory needs to hear your argument.  He must be convinced.  Outside of his own field of study he is not that bright.”  Jim laughed.  “If you do not get the grade you think you deserve, talk to him.  You are one of the smartest students here, my _ashaya_.  You have far more talent than most, certainly more than Professor Gregory.”

“What if he thinks I’m just being arrogant?”

“There is a difference between arrogant and confident, my Jim.  You are confident, but I know you are also insecure.  You are humble.  I know why you project the attitude you do.  If Professor Gregory thinks you are arrogant, let him think it.  His opinion of your character does not matter.  But do not become timid because you are afraid of what he will say or think.  You know what is right, Jim.  Do not be afraid to stand up for it.”

Jim wrapped his arms tightly around Spock.  “Thank you,” he whispered.

“You make me very proud, _ashayam_.”

Jim pulled back and grabbed Spock’s hand.  There were way more important things than one paper he’d forget about by next semester, he realized.

“I would like to watch more of your show, if you are amenable.”

“It’s okay, Spock, I know you don’t like it.”

“On the contrary, I find it a fascinating study of the dynamic of the human family.”

Jim laughed.  “Whatever you say, Spock.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because I had the same comments on an interview I did, and it really upset me (I'm quite sensitive).
> 
> Bonus points if you can guess the show Jim's watching!


End file.
